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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-72369

| EUVDEUVD-2026-59268 HIGH
2026-08-15 Linux GHSA-37g9-2p78-fr5w
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
5.5 MEDIUM

Local mount required (AV:L, PR:L); described impact is kernel panic only, so C:N/I:N/A:H - C:H and I:H from reported vector unsupported by NULL-deref/panic description.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat
5.5 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Aug 17, 2026 - 08:50 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 07:20 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:56 cve.org
HIGH 7.8
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:56 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

minix: avoid overflow in bitmap block count calculation

minix_check_superblock() uses minix_blocks_needed() to verify that the on-disk imap and zmap block counts are large enough for the advertised inode and zone counts.

The helper currently performs DIV_ROUND_UP() in unsigned int arithmetic. A Minix v3 image can set s_ninodes or s_zones near UINT_MAX so the addition inside DIV_ROUND_UP() wraps to zero. That makes a zero imap/zmap block count look valid, after which minix_fill_super() can dereference s_imap[0] or s_zmap[0] even though no bitmap buffers were allocated.

Impact: mounting a crafted Minix v3 image whose s_ninodes or s_zones is near UINT_MAX makes minix_check_superblock() accept a zero bitmap-block count and minix_fill_super() dereference s_imap[0]/s_zmap[0], panicking the kernel.

The divisor is the bitmap capacity in bits, blocksize * 8, which is always a power of two: minix_fill_super() obtains the block size through sb_set_blocksize(), and blk_validate_block_size() rejects any size that is not a power of two. Use DIV_ROUND_UP_POW2(), which divides before adding the round-up term and so cannot overflow for a power-of-two divisor.

AnalysisAI

Integer overflow in the Linux kernel minix filesystem driver allows a local low-privileged user to crash the kernel by mounting a crafted Minix v3 image. The minix_blocks_needed() helper uses DIV_ROUND_UP() in unsigned int arithmetic; an image with s_ninodes or s_zones set near UINT_MAX causes the addition to wrap to zero, tricking minix_check_superblock() into accepting an invalid zero bitmap-block count, after which minix_fill_super() dereferences the unallocated s_imap[0] or s_zmap[0] pointer and panics the kernel. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS is 0.21% (11th percentile), reflecting very low exploitation probability consistent with a legacy, rarely-used filesystem driver.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability resides in fs/minix/ in the Linux kernel stable tree. The function minix_check_superblock() calls minix_blocks_needed() to verify that the on-disk imap and zmap block counts are large enough for the advertised s_ninodes and s_zones values. The macro DIV_ROUND_UP(n, d) expands to ((n) + (d) - 1) / (d); when n is near UINT_MAX and d is a power-of-two block size (enforced by blk_validate_block_size() and sb_set_blocksize()), the addition wraps to zero in 32-bit unsigned arithmetic, producing a quotient of zero that passes the block-count sanity check. minix_fill_super() then attempts to read s_imap[0] or s_zmap[0], which point to unallocated memory, triggering a NULL pointer dereference and kernel panic. The fix replaces DIV_ROUND_UP() with DIV_ROUND_UP_POW2(), which divides before adding the round-up term and is overflow-safe when the divisor is a power of two. The root cause class is CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound) leading to CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference); NVD lists CWE as N/A but the mechanism is clearly an arithmetic wraparound.

RemediationAI

Update to a patched kernel version: 6.6.145 or later for 6.6.x, 6.12.97 or later for 6.12.x, 6.18.40 or later for 6.18.x, 6.19.6 or later for 6.19.x, 7.0, 7.1.5 or later for 7.1.x, or 7.2-rc2 or later. Specific patch commits are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a11ebaab50d27d6c4c78506f84ff36452e0b901d (and related stable-tree commits at the other referenced git.kernel.org URLs). As a zero-footprint compensating control, blacklist the minix filesystem module by adding 'blacklist minix' to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and running depmod; this eliminates the attack surface entirely with the sole trade-off that Minix filesystem images can no longer be mounted on the system. On systems where unprivileged user namespaces are not required, disabling them (sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0 on supported distributions) raises the effective privilege bar for exploitation by removing the ability to trigger mounts from low-privilege contexts.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Not-Affected

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CVE-2026-72369 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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